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Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Kitchen Revolution

I've been looking into it and have come to the decision that for our family, it's time to get away from mixing food and plastic. I realize it would be impossible to make a total break from the food/plastic relationship so I'm mainly focusing on eliminating my long time practice of heating food in plastic containers in the microwave.

After reading this article and learning how the recycle numbers on the bottom of plastic containers can clue me in to the more dangerous plastics, I've made a habit of checking my plastic.

The number 2 on the bottom of this cup and the letters HDPE indicate this cup is made out of high-density polyethylene which is a plastic that is generally safe to use with food. Looking through my kid cups I found mostly 5's, which is polypropylene and also safe for food use. However, among the kid cups I found a number 7. This is not good because 7's are polycarbonate and contain BPE's.

I'm not going to launch into a report of the potential dangers of BPE. It's been in the news and you can easily find out much more on line if you are so inclined. Suffice it to say, I've decided to transition away from plastic kid cups too and replace them with...

...glass! Here are a few glasses in our line-up. Specifically, I purchased the second glass from the left (x6) for the kids. I had to include some of our other fun glasses in this picture though. I have 3 boys (or 4, depending on how you count it) so boot glasses were kind of a requirement for our family. Robert would like me to get more of the little glasses on the far left, but I don't know that I can do that because of the product that comes inside it. (Anyone recognize where I got that little glass?)

Finally, here are the replacements for my pock-marked plastic-ware. Like I said, right now my main concern is heating food in plastic so these glass storage bowls are mainly for left overs or things that will need reheating.

I know I'm coming late to this no-plastics party, but better late than never, right? I'm taking baby steps and tossing plastic into the recycle bin with mild abandon.

Jumpin on the bandwagon is a good thing to do in this case. Good luck. I will be making my freezer jam in glass jars this year. As for ziploc bags...they are still a weekness. I just got rid of almost all of our sippy cups and did the whole stainless steel thing for lunches this year. It was hard at first, but it gets easier.

Okay, so what do I do if my kids break every glass we bring into the house? We have had I-don't-know-how-many sets of glasses, only to watch then disappear one at a time from children who are not quite gentle enough as they unload the dishwasher. We even broke 2 glasses at the Tahoe timeshare we went to last month! : )

Funny you should write about this, I just went to the DI Saturday and bought a bunch of juice glasses to replace all our plastic ones. I figured my kids are old enough now, no need for sippy cups or plastic ones. I also found a few tall glasses that matched my set from World Market. I was so excited because I needed more and I have a hard time finding them. I'm going to sort through my plastics today and see what I've got. One of my big concerns is the plastic water bottles we have in our car emergency kits that sit and get hot in the summer in our hot cars. Any recommendations for that?

Oh, and yes, I do recognize that cute little jar. I don't buy that often, but I get the Roka Blue for a cheeseball recipe I have. I've seen those jars at the DI. I love the smaller juice glasses--they're the perfect size for kids, and that way the kids don't end up pouring too much milk/juice in and then not finish drinking it all! They've been wasting too much lately and it's time to stop!